, 1887-02-10

IL was long ago said that "Gath,'
the nom de plume of George Alfred
Townsend, the most popular newspa-
per correspondent OF the day,i is formed
of the initial letters OF his name, with
the final h added to indicate the place
to which he will be relegated after
death as punishment for the lies he
has told. Gath has long had n repu-
tation for lying with u grace and aban-
don which has never been excelled.
He lies because it is his business to do
so-not from malicious desire to
mislcad his fellow men. He is COM
PEELED to write great deal for the
press and he usually writes Of some
thing which he knows nothing about.
He accordingly lies with II degree OF
bland unconsciousness which consti-
tutes his greatest charm. In recent
letter to the Cincinnati Enquirer he
attempted TO describe Washington ter
ritory, and here is the result of his ef-
forts:
Washington territory is not clearly
identified by most of the people |
SOftltUlIIltS IltNc w ilcSltitc stii w
know whether Oregon is north Of
Washington or south of it. Washing
ton territory, which is also about fit to
be state, lies between the British
lines and the Columbia river, and ex-
tends out II hundred miles east Of the
Columbia river, so as to make nearly Il
straight boundary north and south
with Idaho territory. The town of
Portland, Oregon, is therefore but II
few miles over it's boundary. The mag
niticent estuary Uf Puget Sound falls
into the western half of Washington
territory to the depth OF perhaps $50
miles. You may suppose, who live in
Ohio, that from Toledo swept in Il
great lake or sea as far eastward as
Cleveland, and then swept southward
as far as Columbus, Newark and
Springfield in navigable deep chan
nels like continuous lakes; right in
the midst of this superb briarian ship
navigation stands upon an island the
city OF Seattle. At the very bottom of
the navigation, not more than sixty
miles from the Columb bia river, is the
town of Olympia. At the outlet of
this network of Islands lies Port Town
send. Where the great bay of San
Juan de Fuca picks up this inland
navigation and carries ii by channel
twenty miles wide out to sea, stands
Cape Flattery. Thus you have hugh
territory, of which the most northwest
ern portion is water, like the islands of
Greece amid the Turkish seas, and al
so like Greece, this great square Of
navigation, seventy by fifty miles in
extent, il surrounded by mountains,
and through these mountains comes
down the streams which make the
Columbia river on the south or fill up
the San Juan waters in the middle.
One scarcely knows which of the
many remarkable facts here disclosed
should be considered most startling.
The statement that the city of Seattle
is situated upon an island Fright in
the midst of this briarian ship naviga-
ton" must be accepted with many
misgivings, while the additional state
ment that Olympia is "at the very
bottom of navigation" will be indig-
nantly denied by the citizens of the
Capital City. The "great Bay of San
Juan de Fuca" is also something new
to geography, while the information
that "through these mountains come
down the streams which make the
Columbia river on the south or fill up
the San Juan waters in the middle"
will be scornfully repudiated by every
intelligent schoolboy.
On the whole, it may readily be be-
lieved that Gath has TO hesitate "to
know whether Oregon is north of
Washington or south OF it," With
that much truth, at least, he must be
credited.-Post Intelligencer.